Birthday Fun
by apracot
Summary: Hotch forgets Emily's birthday... and Emily uses this to her advantage to get what she wants.


Ok so it's Emily's birthday and guess who almost forgets! Big mistake Hotch!

Disclaimer: not mine!  
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The best way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once." -H.V. Prochnow  
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Hotch was woken slowly, and rudely form his peaceful slumber by the sound of his girlfriend talking quietly on the phone to someone.

He looked over at the alarm and once he seen it was half six he knew that something interesting was happening... gossip and cases were the only two excuses for phone calls and rude awakenings at this hour and if it was a case JJ would have called him first, so he knew it was gossip.

"Who was that?" he asked the second she put her phone back on the bedside locker, as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Garcia wishing me a happy birthday." Emily replied happily, as she squirmed back down under the blankets and wrapped her arms around Hotch's waist.

Just as she did however the shrill noise of her phone cut through the silence once more and she sat back up to answer it, sighing dramatically as she did.

"And this," she informed Hotch looking at the caller ID, "is Morgan, wishing me the same thing."

Hotch didn't hear any of her second sentence however as the words of her fist one were still buzzing in his mind and haunting him.

Today was the twelfth of October! Holy shit, damn, crap! How the hell had he forgotten that today was his girlfriend's birthday? Crap he was in trouble now! And when he said trouble, he meant 'his life could end if he didn't do something' trouble!

He slid out of bed casually, not wanting to look like he was in a rush, and motioned to Emily that he was going to the bathroom down the hall.

He didn't go left towards the bathroom however, instead he tip toed down stairs and into the kitchen where he found his phone lying on the worktop beside his jacket from the previous evening. He picked it up and slammed his finger on speed dial two impatiently.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up!" He muttered harshly to the phone, as if his prompts would make the person on the other side of the line wake up quicker, keeping one eye on the bedroom door at all times to make sure Emily didn't come out of the room.

"Who died now?" Came the sleepy response of David Rossi on the other end of the line when he finally answered, after what felt like hours.

"Me if you don't help me!" Hotch hissed impatiently.

"Jesus Hotch, you're not seriously calling me because you and Emily fell out over something that's probably ridiculous... like who snores loudest... for Christ sakes it's half six in the morning!" Rossi exclaimed, more than a little pissed off at his friend.

"Yes I know the bloody time... believe me I know, it's half six in the morning on the twelfth of October! Guess whose birthday that is!" Hotch hissed quietly.

"Damn!" Rossi exclaimed slowly. "You know I'm pretty sure that's how one of my marriages ended." He added, trying his best not to sound amused at how panicked the normally composed Hotch was becoming.

"Oh yea, thanks, reassure me why don't you." Hotch growled.

"Ok you're right, sorry. Right here's what you're going to do, act like she isn't getting her gift until tonight, act as if you have a big assed surprise for her and most importantly, act as if you have not forgotten." Rossi told him slowly.

"Ok that's a great idea... oh no wait it's not, because when tonight comes and I don't have a surprise for her she's going to dump me." Hotch reminded him quickly, hearing movement upstairs, which as probably Emily getting out of bed to come and find him... Crap!

"Well that my friend is your problem... good luck." Rossi told him before hanging up the phone swiftly, not allowing Hotch to get another comment in.

Just as Hotch was about to throw his phone across the room... yea because breaking that would make his day better... Emily skipped down the stairs and smiled sweetly at him.

"Hey, I thought you were going to the bathroom?" She asked him as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes and straightened the shirt of Hotch's that she'd thrown on.

If Hotch wasn't in such a panic he would have noticed how beautiful she looked, with her 'just out of bed' hair style and her puffy eyes... but he was panicking, so now wasn't the time to notice this.

"Uh... I um... I was, but... I decided to make you a birthday breakfast instead!" Hotch blurted out, resisting the urge to pat himself on the back for his superb lying skills, but also feeling guilty for lying at all.

"Aw, thank you sweetheart." She replied happily, walking over and giving him a sound kiss on the lips. "I'll go get ready, and wake Jack up and I'll eat it then." She added before heading back to their room.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Emily sat at her desk, being unproductive, for most of the morning, stealing quick glances up towards Hotch's office every now and then, and smiling smugly every time she seen him looking out at her with a worried expression, which he quickly turned into a forced smile of course.

It wasn't until he rushed out of his office at lunch time, not even stopping to ask her did she want to come with him for a birthday lunch, that she finally got up from her desk and called the entire team into the conference room.

"What's the problem birthday girl?" Garcia asked when she skipped into the room followed closely by the rest of the team who looked confused, but happy to get away from their dreaded paper work.

"Well ladies, gents and of course statuesque gods," she added playfully, which earned her a half hearted glare from Morgan who was sitting beside Garcia, "as you all know today is my birthday."

"Wow talk about a news flash Emily. You've worked... and practically lived... with us for five years, I think we know when your birthday is." Morgan informed her.

"I should hop so; all good friends should know my birthday... boyfriends on the other hand..." She said, trailing off suggestively, and barley containing her smile.

"He did what!" JJ and Garcia exclaimed in tandem, both women suddenly looking furious.

"Don't worry you can stop sharpening your pitchforks, I really don't care, believe me when I say I don't love him for his memory when it comes to important dates... I think it's all the serial killer information clogging up his brain or something." Emily reassured the team quickly.

"Ok... so why the group meeting then?" Reid asked cautiously, wondering to himself how anyone could forget dates and other pieces of information.

"Well as I'm sure you all know, myself and Hotch have been going out for almost three years now." Emily started, waiting for the team to nod their heads before she continued. "And as I'm sure you also know I'm not getting any younger." She added, holing up her hands to stop her friends from protesting with what she just said. "So I think it's about time he made an honest woman of me." She finished, letting a smile creep onto her face as she said the last part.

Her words were followed by a round of squeals from the girls and shocked looks from the men.

"You can't force him to propose!" Rossi exclaimed, immediately wishing he hadn't when he got dirty looks from Garcia and JJ.

"Ah, but I never said anything about forcing him... just a gentle nudge in the right direction." Emily informed the confused looking room. "I know for a fact he already has the ring... I just need you five to help me get it." She informed them.

"Wait." Rossi said, before the rest of the team... or the girls anyway... could start to get excited. "How do you know he has it?"

"Woman's intuition." Emily told them, which earned her a raised eyebrow from the men in the room. "And I found it when I was sorting through the laundry." She added sheepishly.

"Ok, but why not just wait for him to propose?" Reid asked, not sure if going behind Hotch's back was the best idea.

"Because," Emily sighed, "I found the ring four months ago; if I wait much longer he'll be giving it to me on our death bed."

"Maybe he was waiting until today to give it to you?" JJ asked, also seeing how risky it would be to double cross Hotch... the man who could bring down a hardened criminal with one glare.

"He forgot, remember." Emily reminded her, sighing in exasperation at her friend's lack of enthusiasm for her plan.

"Maybe he was pretending to forget?" JJ said, still not convinced.

"No, he definitely forgot... he called me at half six this morning panicking." Rossi informed the room. "Though how do you know the ring was for you?" He asked Emily, also not convinced.

"Two reasons." Emily stated. "One, he knows I'd kill him if he cheated on me, never mind get engaged, and two it had 'Dearest Emily' inscribed on the inside of it." She told him, smiling again at the thought of the ring.

"Aw, that's so cute!" Garcia squeaked excitedly. "And I for one, am behind you three hundred per cent of the way." She added excitedly.

"Bu..." Reid started, fully intending on lecturing Garcia on the fact that there only could be as high as one hundred per cent.

"I swear to god, if the word per cent comes out of your mouth I'll kick your ass." Morgan cut in, years of experience teaching him that it was best just to stop Reid's lectures before he'd even had time to start them.

"People focus." Emily cut in, snapping her fingers to get the attention back on her. "Are you going to help me walk down the aisle without needing a Zimmer frame, or not?" She asked.

"Yes, we're in." Garcia replied, looking around the rest of the team and daring them to disagree with her.

"Yup, looks like we're all in on this Em." Morgan agreed, once he too looked around his team mates and saw that none of them were brave enough to say no... Plus it was her birthday.

"Good, here's what I need you all to do..." Emily started.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"The eagle has landed in the break room; I repeat the eagle has landed." Garcia whispered into her mobile as she watched Hotch enter the break room from behind the blinds of Rossi's office.

"The eagle? Since when are we in a spy movie?" Rossi snickered.

"Since I've never been undercover." Garcia replied. "Now shut it or your code made will be grumpy old guy." She added causing Rossi to shoot her daggers.

"Ok Garcia, JJ, commence with phase one." Emily replied, as she sat at her desk, pretending she was taking a work call.

"Roger that Bridezilla, Pinkie and the Brain are going in for the kill." Garcia whispered, hanging up before Emily had a chance to protest her code name.

"I better be the Brain." JJ muttered, as she walked towards the door of Rossi's office.

"Think what you like Blondie." Garcia replied, flicking her friend's hair into her face to highlight her point as they walked out of Rossi's office and into the break room, where Hotch was filling a coffee cup.

"It's a shame you know." Garcia said loudly as both women walked into the room, pretending not to see Hotch who was blocked from view by a press door.

"What's a shame?" JJ asked, just loudly enough for Hotch to hear, but just quiet enough so as not to make things obvious.

"That you and Will aren't tying the knot." Garcia replied, as she pretended to fill her coffee cup, even though there was only a few sips taken out of it.

"Oh Pen, not this again... I told you Will and I are happy as we are!" JJ replied to the woman, in what she hopped sounded like an annoyed voice.

"I know, I know... It's just I'll never get to be a bridesmaid now." Garcia responded, sighing dramatically at the thought of her life without the joy of being a bridesmaid.

"Uh... Pen, you do realise that Emily and Hotch have been going out for three years now, they're bound to get married." JJ told her friend, trying not to smile as she thought of how awkward Hotch must feel, having to overhear this conversation.

"Jayje, be serious... they've been together for three years, and living together for ages... face it, they're another you and Will couple." Garcia informed her friend with a defeated sigh.

"Yea, but the difference between us and them is that Em's always wanted to get married and Hotch isn't against the idea either if Haley's anything to go by, they're bound to do it sometime." JJ reassured her friend, adding a small pat on the shoulder for effect.

"I hope so... if anyone could make it work it would be those two." Garcia added, going of script because she felt saying that was necessary, because it was true.

"I'm with you there Pen, one hundred per cent." JJ sighed.

The two ladies then turned and walked back to Rossi's office, a smug smile plastered on each of their faces, waiting until Rossi's door was closed before turning to each other and high fiving.

"Pfft, and my drama teacher said I couldn't act!" JJ told her friend with a smug smile. "Well Mrs Summers I'd like to see you find flaw in that!" She added bitterly.

"Let me guess, drama was the only blip on Jennifer Jareau's straight A report card?" Rossi laughed.

"You three are talking report cards?" Emily asked as she opened the door and walked into the room as Rossi spoke. "Shouldn't you be getting me up to date instead." She added, sending a glare at each of her friends.

"See that's why you're Bridezilla." Garcia told her friend with a smirk, which was quickly washed off her face with another glare from Emily... this woman spent too much time around Hotch!

"Update!" Emily snapped again, causing her friends to jump to attention.

"Phase one was beyond successful, we said what you told us to say word for word." JJ informed her. "Even the jab at Will and I." She added, with a bemused look on her face.

"Excellent." Emily replied, doing her best Bong villain impression as she spoke. "Phase two shall begin at noon." She added, before turning on her heel and leaving.

"Anyone else thing Emily's getting a little bit too much enjoyment out of being so evil?" Rossi asked the two girls as they watched her leave the office.

"Defiantly." They replied in tandem, before shrugging their shoulders and following Emily out of the office, and back to their own work stations.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"The eagle is leaving his office, I repeat; the eagle is leaving his office and heading towards the photocopier." Morgan murmured into the phone he was holding in his hand.

"Ok, commence phase two." Emily replied into her phone, even though they were sitting at their desks, right beside one another.

"Copy that Bridezilla, white and dark chocolate is swooping in." Morgan informed her through the phone line, using the nicknames Garcia had made up for each member of the team, as he quite liked his.

With that Morgan nodded his head discreetly at Reid and both agents stood at the same time, picking random sheets of paper from their desks so both of them going to the photocopier wouldn't look suspicious.

"What if I mess up my lines?" Reid whispered as they moved closer to Hotch, clutching his paper tightly.

"Then Emily messes up your face man." Morgan replied with a smirk as he sauntered over and stood behind Hotch.

"Hey there Hotch." Morgan said suddenly from behind the lead agent, causing him to jump and almost drop the papers he was holding.

"Hey Morgan, hey Reid." Hotch replied once his heart rate had returned to normal.

"Hey... so word on the street is that it's your better halves birthday today." Morgan enquired loosely, as he pretended to look for a specific sheet to photocopy. "Hope you got her something nice." He added with a smirk.

"Uh... I... uh..." Hotch trailed off, knowing that if he informed Morgan and Reid, of all people, that he'd forgotten Emily's birthday he'd get a beating, knowing how fiercely protective both men were of his girlfriend.

"You know... I proposed to Austin on her birthday." Reid injected suddenly, as if this memory had just sprung him out of the blue, and he'd felt the need to share it, even though it was a lie... he'd proposed to Austin when they'd been going out for just over two years, on Valentine's day, which was two days before her birthday.

"Yea, but we're talking about Hotch and Em here, not you and Austin." Morgan pretended to scold his young friend, all the while trying to keep the smile off his face, as he noticed the clogs turn in Hotch's head.

"Yea, you're right... sorry Hotch." Reid apologised meekly as he turned a shade pinker, the fact that he was lying to his boss making this easier to do.

"It's... It's ok Reid." Hotch replied slowly, never taking his eyes off the sheets that were coming out of the copier painfully slowly.

"Yea, Hotch man, we're sorry if we made you awkward... and by us I mean genius boy here." Morgan informed him. "We get that marriage isn't for you and our princess, and we're sure you're happy the way you are." He added, patting Hotch on the shoulder as he spoke.

"I never said that." Hotch replied quickly. "I'd love to marry Emily some day." He added, as he picked the last o hiss sheets out of the machine.

"Oh... right... sorry man, I just presumed." Morgan told his friend, acting as if the situation was suddenly awkward for him.

"Yea, well... uh, I'm uh, done with the copier now so..." Hotch managed to say, as a little colour started to rise in his cheeks, the memory of the conversation he'd over heard between Garcia and JJ that morning playing at the front of his mind.

The pair watched as Hotch walked briskly back to his office, and waited until he'd shut the door before both of them let evil grins spread across their faces.

"That went well." Reid commented after a moment.

"Damn right it did." Morgan agreed. "Let's go and inform Bridezilla that she can start dress shopping any time now." He added with a smirk.

The pair returned to Emily's desk, and didn't even managed to open their mouths as Emily beet them to it.

"Well? How'd it go?" She asked them quickly, her eyes darting between the two men.

"Um... jeez, uh, I don't remember... I think it went well... um, I'm not quite sure." Morgan teased, scratching his head as if he was trying to remember what had happened, as Reid just smirked at Morgan's antics.

"Morgan! Reid!" Emily warned, anger darting across her face. "Tell me now or face the risk of never reproducing." She threatened them.

"It went well!" Reid blurted out, knowing only too well that a threat from Emily was almost as scary as a threat from Garcia, and Emily was just as likely to follow through with her threat as Garcia was.

"Excellent." Emily replied, reaching for her pen and placing a tick beside the words "Phase two: Operation White and Dark Chocolate" which was written in one of the note books on her desk. "Only one more phase to go and you two, are going to be picking out tuxes." She added with a smirk.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Ok, you do know what to do?" Emily double checked one last time, as this was the phase she was most worried about, again speaking on her phone.

"Em, believe me I got this, don't you worry about it." Rossi replied, sounding overly cocky for Emily's liking... that was exactly the reason she was hesitant about stage three, the one and only David Rossi was carrying out this phase alone.

"Ok then." Emily sighed. "Well the eagle is in his office, so Father Time can ambush him any time now." She told Rossi, smirking at his nickname, because Garcia had been insistent that after his comment about her code names that he was going to get a bad one.

"Ok Bridezilla, over and out." Rossi replied, before hanging up his phone quickly and getting out of his chair to head towards his office door.

He walked across the catwalk quickly, risking a glance down at Emily as he went, and noticing that she was biting her lip... jeez way to show her trust in him!

He looked through Hotch's blinds and seen that the man was bent over a file, so Rossi walked into the office without knocking first, and sauntered over to the guest seat, and waited until he'd gotten comfortable in the chair before talking, to a now confused looking Hotch.

"So... given any thought to your problem?" Rossi asked casually, knowing that Hotch would understand what he was talking about.

"Yes, I have." Hotch replied, not wanting to give anything away on the matter.

"And..." Rossi prompted, sitting forward in his seat to lean in closer, as if they were children, sharing a secret.

"And... I have a plan." Hoch replied, still remaining mysterious.

"And are you going to tell your oldest and dearest friend what the plan is, or are you going to leave me in the dark, even after I was woken at half six this morning by your panicked phone call." Rossi asked him casually.

"Well firstly I wouldn't call you my dearest friend... oldest yes, but not necessarily my dearest." Hotch teased, earning him a glare from Rossi. "And secondly, I think I will be leaving you in the dark, because you're the biggest gossip in this building... heck you're the biggest gossip in the FBI full stop, so don't take offence when I say that I'm leaving you in the dark about this one." He told him with a smile.

"Wow, Aaron that really hurts." Rossi told him, clutching his chest dramatically.

"You know at your age, you shouldn't joke about heart attacks." Hotch told him, laughing at Rossi's dramatic performance.

"I think I'll leave now, you don't deserve to be in my presence if you're going to be that mean." Rossi informed Hotch, before standing up dramatically and walking towards the door.

Once he left the office, rather than go down to Emily's desk, like she'd specifically asked him to, he walked slowly back to his office, knowing that she was probably sending him evil looks for his failure to do as he was told.

He hadn't even had time to sit back down however, when his door burst open, and Emily walked in quickly, closing it with a snap behind her, before walking over to his desk and looming over it dangerously.

"Hey Em, what brings you here?" Rossi asked innocently, looking up at her in shock.

"Don't play games with me Rossi... not if you like your head attached to your body." She told him coldly.

"Oh right..."Rossi responded after a moment of pretending to think what she could want. "Well I guess things went well?" He told her with a shrug.

"You guess things went well!" Emily repeated, looking angrier and angrier by the minute. "Either give me a straight answer now, or pray to god that I make your death quick." She informed him.

"Don't worry." Rossi told her, breaking out in a smirk as he spoke. "Aaron Hotchner has been caught, hook, line and sinker, and if my calculations are correct, you can be expecting a proposal tonight." He informed her.

"Well then." Emily stated smugly. "Looks like phase three was a success after all."

~.~.~.~.~.~

That evening Emily sat patiently on the couch in the living room of her and Hotch's apartment... which they'd bought six months ago so they could be closer to Jack's school... with two glasses of wine sitting on the table in front of her.

She gave herself the once over in the mirror that hung in the hall, that you could see from the doorway of the living room, and she smiled at her casual, yet fancy choice of skin tight black jeans and a plaid black and red, three quarter sleeved shirt.

She could barely contain her smile, as she finally heard the lock in the door click open, and moments later Hotch walked into the living room carrying a single sunflower in his hand, as he knew this was Emily's favourite flower.

"For you madam." Hotch said with a wide smile, as he held out the single flower to Emily.

"Why thank you." Emily replied as she accepted the flower and moved over on the couch so he could sit beside her.

"So have you enjoyed your birthday so far?" Hotch enquired, keeping the conversation light.

"I have... despite the fact that Morgan thought it would be funny to buy me pole dancing lessons as a gift." Emily told Hotch, rolling her eyes at the memory.

"Not something I'd be against." Hotch joked, as he kissed the top of Emily's head.

"I bet not." Emily laughed, wondering when he was going to ask her.

The pair sat in silence after that, Emily getting more and more agitated by the minute, as she waited for Hotch to ask, but refusing to say anything to give the game away.

"We've been together for what... three years now?" Hotch asked casually after a long silence.

"Yea, give or take a couple of days." Emily replied, trying to hide the excitement in her voice. "Why do you ask?" She enquired, already knowing the answer.

"Well... there's something I want to ask you Em... and it's important you listen, because I only have the guts to ask this once." He informed her, as he took a deep breath.

"Ok then." Emily replied, barely managing to keep her voice even as Hotch took her smaller hands in his large ones.

"Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, about the future and I've made a few decisions regarding our future Emily." Hotch started, looking deep into Emily's eye. "And because of that... there's something I need to ask you." He told her, before taking a deep breath and getting down on one knee. "Emily Prentiss would you ever consider doing me the honour of... of getting a joint savings account with me?" He asked, fighting the smile that was forming on his face.

"What the hell?" Emily asked, looking at him as if he'd suddenly grown two heads, the look of joy quickly disappearing from her face.

"I'm sorry." Hotch replied quickly. "I knew I shouldn't have pressure you into this decision." He told her, sighing dramatically.

"No... You were... but, how could... Dave said..." Emily stammered, still looking at Hotch in confusion.

"What's the matter Emily?" Hotch asked, standing up and looking at her in worry as she stood and gaped at him.

"Where the hell is the ring?" Emily shouted suddenly.

"What are you talking about darling?" Hotch asked in shock as he stood up slowly.

"I mean where the hell is the damn ring that I found in the laundry months ago, with 'Dearest Emily' written on the inside!" She exclaimed in frustration.

"Oh... you mean this ring." Hotch replied, pulling a small black box out of his pocket and opening it slowly to reveal a silver ring, with a large diamond on the front and smaller diamonds running right around the ring, which had a ruby red colour on the outside of it.

"What, yes that one... what's going on?" Emily asked, confused as to why Hotch hadn't just asked her straight out.

"Well you had your fun so I thought I'd have mine." Hotch replied smugly. "Do you really think our team would be discrete enough to pull off whatever plan you had without me catching on." He laughed.

"Damn it." Emily mumbled. "It was Rossi wasn't it... I knew I couldn't trust him on his own." She sighed.

"No... Actually it was Reid and Morgan." Hotch replied. "After we 'talked' I started to realise how odd a coincidence it was that I'd first overhear a conversation between JJ and Garcia about our relationship, and then talk to Morgan and Reid about it... I'm not that easily fooled you know." He joked.

"Damn..." Emily repeated under her breath.

"No actually." Hotch responded. "Because they did help me pluck up the courage to ask you... before I was afraid you'd say no." He told her.

"Aaron, I've put up with your bad habits for three years now, do you not think that me picking up your laundry from all over the house is enough to prove how much I love you." Emily laughed.

"I guess... but still..." Hotch started.

"But still nothing... just ask me already." Emily commanded, as she stood quietly and waited.

"Ok..." Hotch said, taking a deep breath. "Emily Prentiss, I've loved you with all my heart and all my soul for three years now, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Hotch asked, getting down on one knee again as he spoke.

"Well I'll have to think about it." Emily teased. "Bu of course I'll marry you Aaron Hotchner." She squeaked happily. "I love you so much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you... Even if I am still a little angry that you messed with me." She added with a playful wink.

"You messed with me first." Hotch huffed playfully, before slipping the ring onto Emily's finger and allowing her to gaze at it lovingly for a while.

"How about we say sorry for messing with each other properly." Emily asked after a moment, her eyes darting between Hotch and their bedroom.

"Sounds good to me." Hotch replied with a seductive smile, before grabbing Emily's newly ring clad hand and pulling her towards the room.  
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There, done. Tell me what you thought and thanks for reading. =)


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